Halloween

So I (David) volunteered to write the next blog entry. In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been contributing much so far. About a week later, I'm finally getting around to it (while watching the Phillies try to survive game 6)

Carving Pumpkins:

I don't remember ever carving pumpkins before. It's possible that we did and I just don't remember. But I'm going to go ahead and call this my first time. Lindsay, on the other hand, is a seasoned pro.


The first step (I learned) was getting a pumpkin. Now, getting a pumpkin from a pumpkin patch maximizes the pumpkin picking experience. A close second is the farmers market. Last on the list is the supermarket a block from your apartment. The cost of the actual pumpkins, of course, is inversely proportional to the experience absorbed on the trip. We went the route of going to farmers market, looking around at pumpkins, buying non-pumpkin produce, returning to the supermarket, and buying pumpkins at half the price. I think our way was best.

Prior to this experience, I was under the impression that carving pumpkins works the same way that I envision sculptures being created, namely, hacking away at it until you step back and voila! a masterpiece, or for someone with my artistic ability, a mutilated mess. But we used an easier method: searching the internet for pumpkin templates, printing one out, taping said template onto pumpkin, and using that to carve the image. I think they turned out pretty well actually. I'll let you judge for yourself though. If not, at least we had fun doing it.

Kudos to the first person who can guess what the pumpkins are supposed to be.


Trunk-or-Treat:

On halloween night we went to Trunk or Treat, Grace's halloween alternative where kids can get candy from people's decorated car trunks, play games, get balloon animals, faces painted, etc. You get the idea. It's just like the fall festival/harvest festival/whatever-it-was-called you grew up with. Linds and I had volunteered to help out wherever. We got assigned tug-of-war. Despite being located at the far end of the event and needing equal teams to be fun, our game was actually more popular than I thought it would be (thanks to some of our regulars). All in all, we had a good time hosting, and I think people had a good time getting dragged (drug?) through the grass.

And in case you're interested, I went as a tennis pro and Lindsay looked cute in her fall colors. (She would have done a costume, but I had been saying all along that I didn't want to dress up and only changed my mind 5 minutes before we left, which did not give her enough time to come up with something. My fault.)

Summary:


Halloween is much better when you get to spend it with the woman you love. =)

ps - I (Lindsay) made pumpkin seeds for the first time and they were delicious! Firsts for both of us I guess.

Dallas Farmers Market

We ventured out to our farmers market for the first time this afternoon & will probably be back every Saturday from here on out! Apparently it is open 8 to 6, 362 days a year; I had no idea. Besides being beautiful, the market has produce that is very inexpensive & as fresh as it comes - we can certainly attest to this, as free samples were plentiful. Literally they are standing there with a whole pineapple cutting off slices as you walk by - pineapples, papaya, grapefruit, tomatoes, watermelon, yum...get all your produce needs just walking around. Needless to say, we found a treasure in downtown Dallas - yay for new things.

And something about fresh (affordable!) produce just makes me VERY happy =)

somewhat familiar faces

Other than the somewhat alarming facial hair of the one pictured above on the left, we were happy to house two familiar faces passing through Texas this past weekend. David & Dan are on the last leg of their US road trip that, so far, has lasted about a month. We took them around downtown a bit and got to overlook the city from the top of the Sheraton, but it was a quiet, rainy Sunday night, so not a ton to see. They rested up on Monday (even though I urged them to get some fried butter at the Texas State Fair!!) while we were at work, before heading out early Tuesday morning, but a trip to Dallas, in our book at least, is only complete with a trip to Pokey O's for ice cream sandwiches, yum. Good to see familiar faces in a city I am still learning to call home =)

Fall is upon us...

If I were writing this 2 weeks ago,it would probably have sounded something like this:

Fall is finally upon us & we are thrilled! I (Lindsay), at least, have been looking forward to fall almost since we got here, definitely since summer. Not because our first 6 months (6 months!) weren't great, because they were - setting up our apartment, taking care of marriage business, getting to spend so much time together before school started - but because fall meant the starting up of Bible studies we could get involved in, a cooling off from the summer heat, a routine that toward the end of summer we have been yearning for, and a return to classes, which David has really been looking forward to. The changing colors of the trees, the rain, pumpkins...i just love fall =)

But here we are, almost a solid 2 weeks into the season & we are already beginning to feel the weight of David's workload (or the promise of an increased workload at least). We have not gotten into an exercise routine (i had hope, but i honestly can't say I'm too surprised). Our budget is finally starting to become a reality, for me at least.

But here we are, two weeks into fall, 31 weeks into marriage =)

I joined a women's Bible study for seminary wives through an organization called "SWIM" on the DTS campus. I have only been to one meeting so far, but I am really excited about it. It meets every other week, on Tuesday nights, and there are 6 women total, including our leader. We are going through a study on the Beatitudes, which has a daily 'homework' assignment, and I have already learned a lot. The first night we had great discussion & bonded really well. One of the girls in the group has only been here one month, all the other girls are getting ready to leave. Three of the women have children, one is a foster mom. We are all in different places, yet in the same place - it is really neat to be able to connect with them, if only every other week for a semester.

David & I also joined a Bible study ("Grace group" not to be confused with "Growth Group") at the church we are attending here - Grace Bible. There are a total of 6 couples, all but one are married. We are going through a study on spiritual disciplines that has already proved to be challenging for me & I am really looking forward to the study. We had our first meeting last Sunday night & will hopefully try to meet every Sunday. We are hoping to build some solid friendships at our church through this & are excited to get to do this together. David is still helping out with the slides & lights every other Sunday at church & I am praying about where to get involved.

David started classes August 26 and is well into the semester now. He is taking:

- Advanced Greek Grammar
- Hebrew 1
- Angelology, Anthropology, and Hamartiology (Angels, Man & Sin)
- Trinitarianism
- Spirtual Formation (David is the leader of his group)

He is enjoying his classes (especially Greek) & is doing a great job. I have been helping him study his Hebrew vocabulary in the evenings, which is about as much as I can do! The professor he is taking for Greek has done a bunch of Textual Criticism research & wrote the textbook they are using. The topic David picked for his research paper is on some part of grammar that his professor doesn't have any knowledge of & often he includes the work of his students in his publications, so it's possible that David's work could get published! This professor, Dr. Wallace, is also who David is thinking of interning under, so it is exciting that he will be getting to know him this semester.

I am still enjoying my job, although it is definitely stressful at times. Last week I had my 90 day review, which was definitely good, but I couldn't help getting hung up on the few things they wanted to see improvement in. The days following the review, the expectations seemed to have been raised, and I was getting discouraged and making more mistakes. Thankfully David has been a great source of encouragement & in my despair I was driven to the Lord in prayer. He calmed fears of inadequacy pretty quickly & this past week was much better.

I have a few projects going at home (still working on those pillowcases!) that are keeping me busy, I am finding out how much I love reading again, playing the piano here & there, learning how to manage our budget and certainly keeping busy with laundry, cleaning & cooking! I don't enjoy cooking as much as I wish I did, but when I take the time to get a meal plan going, it is not too bad =)

We recently went to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Tchaikovsky (so good!). DTS often gets group tickets so that students can go for free! We also got some discounted tickets through DTS to see Julius Caesar @ this cute little outdoor theater, Shakespeare in the Park. We brought our blanket & dinner & met some friends who saved us a great spot right up front. It was great fun & a gorgeous night (i got to wear pants & a sweater!!); very glad we got a pre-show tip to bring bug spray though! We were very impressed with the production and I'm pretty sure we will be going back again!

We are looking forward to "Trunk or Treat," a Halloween alternative at our church. They have lots of candy, food, games, a bounce house and most importantly, kids in costume! We are excited to help out & get to see all the little trick-or-treaters!! We are also really excited about Brett (my sister-in-law!) coming to visit us in November for a long weekend!!

We are praising the Lord for his faithfulness & provision and know that our Jehovah-jireh will continue to provide for all of our needs. Thank you for your continued prayers for us as we are living life day by day in Dallas as a married couple & continually coming to a deeper understanding of what it means to abide in Christ & trust him for all things.

We love you!

Happy fall =)

The last bits of summer

I have always considered Labor Day weekend to be the last hoorah before going back to school. It meant block parties or bbqs at a beach house growing up; now it means the last nice long weekend off from work & school before the holidays. Our closest friends in Dallas were gone for the weekend, so we spent almost all of our weekend together playing! My boss let me leave at 4pm on Friday & so the long weekend began! I’m pretty sure I called someone to brag about the fact that I was starting the weekend an hour early =)
One of our goals for the weekend (or mine at least) was to get out of the house, since we had heard reports of lower temperatures (at least not triple digits). We decided to take a low-budget day trip to Mesquite on Saturday, and after sleeping in a little, we made our lunches and headed out to a new disc golf course. I’m pretty sure this was our first disc golf session since I’ve been in Dallas, and we were reminded of how much we like it. So much so that David has decided to start spending a few afternoons a week on his days off playing on his own & listening to the Hebrew vocab he recorded & put on his ipod - fun, exercise & learning all in one =) We especially enjoyed this 18 hole course – I think it reminded us a little of SLO. There were trees & creeks winding through the entire course with little bridges everywhere to cross where it was deep, and a swing set off of the first hole (what a good way to start out the course!). Inevitably, I threw my disc in the water a ton (including the first time, when David told me I needed to “play it as it lays” and I did – good thing I was wearing sandals) until it was no longer retrievable….sad day. After our failed attempts to fish out my disc, we went to find the one David had already thrown & could not find his either…someone had picked it up.

In a strange turn of events, a very nice man pointed us in the direction of the guy who had picked up David’s disc. He turned out to be a DTS grad & we ended up finishing the back nine with him. He gave David one of his discs & afterwards David was able to recover my disc from the deepest creek running down the center of the course (without having to go for a swim!). So instead of losing two discs, we gained one.

We ate our lunch on a picnic table in the shade of the trees of the park, went to Walmart to stock up on soda & candy, and went to see “Up” at the dollar theater. We found a great coupon for pizza when we got home & drove a new way to pick it up (I keep accidentally stumbling upon new places I haven’t been yet that aren’t that far from our place & it gives me the urge to explore). We finished the day with our pizza & a game of scrabble.
Sunday, Andy preached a great sermon on Work & then we went to Panera for lunch. Yum. We ate & sat with our books and laptop (yes, singular, David’s does not travel well) for a few hours working - although I wouldn’t consider reading my Bible & writing emails work & I’m not sure David would consider reading Advanced Greek Grammar work either, at least it was hard for me to tell because he kept chuckling…. I have come to love sitting in coffee shops, sipping tea & reading or working on my laptop, especially when I have a companion. I also have a newfound love for lazy Sunday afternoons that include trips to coffee shops or naps at home – they are just better when you’re married. We ended up playing another round of disc golf in Mesquite (disc-tragedy free) and heading home for a double feature. We spent most of Monday doing chores at home & running errands, but it felt good to be productive & start a new week with a clean apartment (& clean clothes).

David very rarely gets an entire 3 day weekend off of work like this, so it was a special treat to get to spend the whole weekend together. And it was good to be outside. I must say, we are excited for the impending fall season...

Summer Recap

Summer in Texas is hot.

It also means GREAT Thunderstorms.

I realize I haven’t written in two months so I thought I would recap our summer, or at least the last two months of it.

Some highlights of July:

- We spent the 4th of July at our company get together at Dan & Lisa Saur’s lake house about an hour south of Dallas. It was a great way for David to get to know them a little bit & meet most of our staff.

We swam in the lake, went out on
the boat & ate dinner on the front porch. We didn’t stay for fireworks, but we had a great time.

- My friend Melissa came to visit for about a week. She stayed with her sister who lives here too, but I got to see her a bunch and it was great! July is a tough month to visit Dallas though, so we spent a lot of time inside watching movies, playing games & shopping. We also celebrated her 20 birthday at a tea house; good fun!

- Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince – awesome. And bonus: after seeing the movie, David read thru all of the books in about a month =)

The highlight of August was getting to see our friend Matt from SLO. He & his dad stayed with us for a night on their way out to St. Louis, Missouri, where Matt is starting his first year of seminary at Covenant. We had enough time to catch a Rangers-Twins game in Arlington & get dollar hot dogs. It was really good to see him and catch up.


Like I said, summer in Texas is hot, so with the exception of swimming, we spent a lot of time inside – we spent a couple weeks putting together a giant puzzle, watched a lot of movies, took up playing Scrabble (& got an official Scrabble dictionary), and discovered the dollar theater of Mesquite (seriously, $1.25 to see new movies just out of theatres). Every time the temperature dropped below 100, we tried to take advantage of it & get outside to the park, the lake, or to play tennis.